Featuring essays by renowned scholars Michael J. Hyde, Theodore Kisiel, Mark Michalski, Otto Pöggeler, and Nancy S. Struever, this book provides the definitive treatment of Martin Heidegger’s 1924 lecture course, “Basic Concepts of Aristotelian Philosophy.” A deep and original interview with philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer, who attended the lecture course, is also included. Conducted over the course of three years, just prior to his death in 2002, the interview is Gadamer’s last major philosophical statement. By carefully considering this lecture course in the context of Heidegger’s life and work, the contributors compel us to reconsider the history and theory of rhetoric, as well as the history of twentieth-century continental philosophy.

“…Gross and Kemmann have gathered a rich set of investigations and meditations on Heidegger’s thinking about themes in Aristotle’s treatise on rhetoric and how these can assist us today in thinking not merely about the historical case of Heidegger and rhetorical theory, but more significantly about how such insights can make us better thinkers about questions of rhetoric, language, and pathos—in a word, about our being-together-with-one-another-in-the-world.” — Quarterly Journal of Speech

“This delightful volume does a superb job of preparing the reader for a study of Heidegger’s lectures on Aristotle’s Rhetoric. These are stimulating essays that not only convey the background information necessary for understanding Heidegger’s lectures, but also display something of the excitement felt by the students when they heard them.”  Robert Bernasconi, The University of Memphis

“This is an outstanding collection dealing with an overlookedalbeit pivotaltopic in Heidegger’s thought. It makes explicit some implicit, but intriguing, issues in his thought: the idea of politics, of political pluralism, language as ‘performative’ activity, and its connections to the social world. There are also some very interesting discussions on the role of emotions and embodiment.”  Frank Schalow, author of Heidegger and the Quest for the Sacred: From Thought to the Sanctuary of Faith

Daniel M. Gross is Assistant Professor of Rhetoric at The University of Iowa. Ansgar Kemmann is Project Manager of the German Federal Contest “Jugend Debattiert” (“Youth Debate”) at the Hertie Foundation.